My parents could have predicted it, but it took me walking into the classroom for the very first time in 2005, to realize that my greatest purpose was being able to impact students’ lives in ways that others could not. To this day, my “happy place” is the classroom. There is something about being in the moment, talking about a topic, and embracing the student experience of learning all within a period of time. So true that not all teaching experiences are transcendent and some of our best laid plans to inspire learning do not prevail. But, at the core of a faculty is a Moment Maker. 

This week, I learned so much from being in the classroom, watching our faculty in action. Class observations hold important value to me because I get the chance to go back into my “happy place” and experience the moments of learning and the excellence of teaching. Highlights from this week include:

• Professional communication framework that nurses use to be succinct, clear, and direct when sharing patient information knowing that these “are not social conversations.”
• The skin of an apple is a great illustration of various pressure injuries. I will never look at an apple in quite the same way as I recall stages 1-4 of pressure injuries.
• Some of our best research content is on the “deep web” and our wonderful GCC Library databases can help us find the best sources to inform a topic.
• And a nice reminder that “Research is about seeing connections between things and not just searching!”

Everyday can be a day of learning, a day for a new experience, or  a new moment. Our faculty embrace these opportunities; as I have grown as a professional and in my reflection of purpose, the drive for learning something new every day takes me back to my “happy place.” So, when was the last time I learned something new?  That answer is right now- I am always in the moment of learning.

When discussing AI, I’m reminded of this old newspaper clipping.

As calculators proliferated the classroom, teachers angrily took to the streets in fear of what would happen. But what actually happened was…well, mostly good. Calculators supplemented our study of arithmetic, made us more efficient, and raised the bar for math literacy. I believe AI is the English teacher’s calculator.

I cannot deny the efficacy of a chat generator in assisting a student with essay composition. If used correctly, it can give them any number of ideas to supplement their writing: research questions, search terminology, counterclaims, revisions, etc. It can do things for them in seconds that I, as their teacher and aide, would need more processing time to accomplish.

We can’t ignore it. We are going to have to reinvent the way our classrooms function in order to properly utilize this new tool, and those boundaries are still very much undefined. One thing we absolutely must not do is continue running from the issue as if it will ever go away. It is here. And, yes, it is scary. However, if we can just reimagine our processes, we will find ourselves on a higher plane of learning. The redundancies that we endlessly re-teach in the English classroom will go by the wayside as we embrace new ways of writing and thinking.  We must only be willing to start the process of re-invention.

There’s a scene at the end of Fahrenheit 451—Ray Bradbury’s classic and contentious cautionary tale—that starkly underlines one of the novel’s subtle themes. After a lifetime of burning books as a ‘firefighter’, the newly jobless Guy Montag stumbles upon travelers living on the outskirts of civilization. The travelers have each dedicated their lives to remembering books, serving as the imperfect keepers for stories that would otherwise be lost to the world.

As Montag learns about their way of life, he watches the men huddle around fires for warmth. He notices how they use fires to cook their food. Fire, the weapon he had used to destroy culture throughout the book, was now a benevolent tool.  

Funny enough, Bradbury’s writing often warns against the dangers of an overreliance on technology; however, this scene alone reminds us that ethical failings are forever man-made. Technology is a tool. Like fire, we can use AI to burn everything down. Or, like these travelers, we can use it to enrich our lives. The decision is in our hands.

When I have the AI discussion with my classes, this is the moral conundrum that I present them with. Yes, the tool can absolutely write your essays for you. But, in that same vein, your car could be a death machine. Or it can take you to the hospital. Your knife can cut someone. Or it can chop your vegetables up. We must be taught how to use the tools given to us correctly—and we must choose to use them correctly.

Like the Phoenix, we are going through the fires. But what emerges from those flames will be rebirth.

P.S. Montag is German for Monday—the start of a new week. The logo of the firefighters is a salamander: if you lop off the tail, it’ll grow back anew. Every major symbol in the novel points to new beginnings. That’s what we have to be willing to embrace—a new beginning.

As a lifelong learner, I’m always learning new things. It keeps me young. About five minutes ago, I learned about Craiyon, an AI illustrator which will create anything you type into it. I’m in awe, and more importantly, I can see how I would use it. On Tuesday, I used a thinking protocol called See-Think-Wonder, learned from Betsey Wheeler, where students had to procure or draw an image which represented their research topics and discuss the image by answering the following questions: 1. What do you see?; 2. What do you think about it?; 3. What does it make you wonder?. I use this protocol to help students visualize their topic as an object, so it imprints in the front of their mind as they begin their scholarly investigations. The next time I do this, I’m going to have them use Craiyon. Oh! Maybe after my 101 students write their memoirs, I’ll have them generate an illustration with their own descriptions to see what happens when they literally create a picture with words. This is the extent I’ve used AI in my classroom.

We discussed the use of AI on the first day in one of my classes, and I asked students to use it as a tool to support what they are already creating but not to supplant it. A student offered feedback about how she uses it to finesse her sentence structure and typos in her writing, beyond Grammarly. Our first Writer’s Workshop is next week, so I think I will offer students that option. Of course, I’m thinking about how if they post their own work into ChatGPT, then they are adding to the proverbial “machine,” and I’m uncomfortable with the ethical implications, like how much is too much? Somewhere out there, Aldous Huxley must be saying, “See! I told you so!”

Beyond the classroom, I’ve used ChatGPT to generate a “strengthening and conditioning exercise routine for a middle aged woman,” “recipes to boost metabolism,” and “a healthy eating menu for a family of four and corresponding grocery lists.” On Linkedin, I’ve contributed to AI generated articles with my “human” professional expertise. I’ve also started to read about how it is being used to support neurodivergent students in breaking down potential barriers, which is important to me. Moving forward, since AI has clearly claimed permanent residence in our world, I’ll utilize it as a tool in my classroom, personal life, and research, but I will remain in ethical quandary.

My best tech tips are for our Canvas instructors to assist students with easy and organized navigation within a course.

First, streamline all course content into modules. Start the module with an overview explaining purpose and content of the module. Load lectures, discussions, assignments, etc. in the order you want students to move through the content. Lastly, end the module with a wrap-up/summary page where you highlight the learning objectives and other related content you think students might find valuable.

Watching students scroll through modules to find their current module is painful. So the third tip is about module movement. As the semester progresses, the list of open modules gets longer and longer. Even mid-way through the semester the list can be quite long. By having the current module on top stops the scrolling. Students can easily identify the module they should be working through. This tech tip is also helpful for faculty because they won’t have to scroll either.

A third tech tip is make modules the home page. Most instructors, myself included, initially have the home page set to a warm welcome for students. The welcome might have pictures, textbook information or even a meme. However, realistically students don’t need to re-read the welcome after the first week. After the first week of class I have modules as my home page and the current module on top. This translates to one click from the student dashboard to students being in the correct location of current module. The student logs into Canvas, clicks on my course card and the first thing they see is the current module.

A fourth tip is hiding unnecessary navigation features. If students can get to all content from modules, files, assignments and discussions do not need to populate for navigation. Also there are many other features that are not needed for course navigation so those options should also be hid. In the end students will be more likely to get where they need since there is only one direct path to take them there.

A final tech tip that goes with this series is adding the most recent announcement to the top of the home page. By adding recent announcements to the top of the home page, students can quickly see important messages you sent. As many as 15 can populate, but that is too many. I prefer only the most recent.

These tips facilitate one click transition from dashboard to the correct module (no scrolling required), and current announcements visible immediately after just one click!

A special thank you to Jenn Alton (CTLE Program Analyst) for filming the scroll video and converting the video to a gif.

I have a few favorite resources and tools I use in my teaching practice. They’ve made it to my favorite list because they are functional, well-designed, and essentially make life easier for me and my students. My first favorite tool is Google docs, slides, websites, forms, and spreadsheets. As a teacher who started my career with chalkboards and overheads and paper files…ALL THE FILES, Google suite has been this writing gal’s dream come true. I can create a document that saves automatically, can share it with anyone at any time, and they can edit it, too?!? I use Google docs for EVERYTHING: peer review, writing workshop, class voting, embedding syllabi into Canvas, surveys, student information forms, student book selections, e-portfolios, demonstrating MLA and APA formatting, class projects (right now my EDU221/ENG102 Learning Community students are working on creating presentations specific to various stakeholders), showcasing student work like my ENH112 students’ stories about identity, and housing my millions (maybe billions?!?) of files.

My second favorite tool is PearDeck. PearDeck makes my life easier as an instructor because it makes formative assessment interactive and fun. I can ask thought provoking questions or ask how everyone is doing before class starts, and I can garner an immediate response from all students simultaneously. The drawing option certainly livens up things. Imagine 18 different images representing research topics or, for fun, 18 different interpretations of adding a costume to a jack-o-lantern. Other tools along the same vein are PollEverywhere, Padlet, and Kahoot. To sort groups, I like to use Random Team Generator, and to keep time during collaboration, I like to use any version of an online Egg Timer.

My third favorite resource is Spotify. I use it to create a playlist for each class based on responses about songs they find uplifting and have used it in the past to create theme-based playlists for different writing projects like This I Believe. I’ll play it while students are trickling into the classroom, grabbing snacks, and getting situated or in-between tasks. Spotify makes it easy to embed the playlist into Canvas, too.

Finally, my last favorite tool is Loom. As a Chrome extension, it makes it super simple to record a screencast or a video and embed it into Canvas to support instruction or weekly tasks. I’m sure I’ll think of something else as soon as I post this, but these are some of the tech resources and tools I use regularly.

I began using Generative AI to help with my marriage. I would ask for different activities my husband and I could do together to connect. I was surprised at how many activities the AI systems could create so I started to push a little harder.

For example, I do enjoy hearing that my husband loves me but then I start to think “why does he love me?” and “are the words ‘I love you’ what I really wanted to hear?” So I started to ask ChatGPT what are other ways to say I love you? As well as what ways can you show how you love someone? These two prompts have helped my husband and I feel more connection and love from one another. 

I am not going to say that ChatGPT is a counselor or therapist but if you are looking for small tips that can help you in your relationship day-to-day, I would suggest giving it a try. In the end, after all the suggestions from the GenerativeAI of your choice, you still need to choose which ideas are comfortable and actionable for yourself and your situation. 

I believe that this same mindset can be used for Generative AI in the classroom. Take things slow and use your judgment to determine the best fit for you when integrating ChatGPT suggestions/ideas into your instruction. 

One of my favorite things about my office is all the color. I have an interior office with no natural light and that can make my space feel somewhat dreary. One of the ways that I have created an inspiring office space is with color. This can be found before opening my door. 

You will see in the image I have used colored transparency on my door to bring more color. Circles are my favorite shape so they are also showcased. 

Once inside my office you will find bright summer colors that complement the white walls and black file organizer on my wall. I wanted to create a happy and inviting space. In my research I have found that having plants (real or faux) have a positive effect on your mood which is why I have two fake plants and am looking to add a third soon. 

I hope that you have found some inspiration in looking into my office space and maybe you will consider adding a faux plant to your work space to boost your mood in a positive way. 

As a mom of four boys, there is a lot of testosterone in my house. Decorating schemes include various shades of blue, red, and purple (as well as planets, Star Wars, and dinosaurs). But my office is all mine to decorate as I see fit. And that means a space with quite a lot of pink, family photos, humorous images, and just a touch of glitter. When I look around my office, every object and decoration fills me with joy (Marie Kondo would be so proud.)

Please join me on a virtual tour of my office!

The first thing you’ll see is my rustic brick wall, adorned with as many decorations as I could fit using custom brick-hanging devices. There’s a cross-stitching of shoes made by a former colleague, photos of my boys when they were younger, a punny piece of art from First Fridays, and a light up R from a former student.

Next, you’ll probably notice the side of my file cabinet / shelving unit. It is adorned with artwork from my children, spanning back to preschool all the way to this year! I also have a Glitter Board, where students can contribute their own artwork, stickers, fliers, and snowflakes (Why? Who knows! I’ll take it!) I offer students extra credit to add something to the board, which also sneakily gets students to my office to hopefully create a habit of visiting Office Hours and reaching out if they need help.

On my blue wall (painted by the school during last year’s renovation, without even consulting me about my preferred shade of pink), I bought deep shelves from Amazon to display more awesomeness. At the top are family photos from 2019 (simpler, pre-pandemic times) which probably should be updated to more recent pics, but I just love remembering their little faces! The bottom two shelves are devotes to student project pieces: a cross stitch of a student and her boyfriend as well as a broken heart from Interpersonal Communication, a fake cigarette carton (culture jamming assignment) and a magic broom from Intercultural Communication , a fake plant from a Xeriscape service learning project in Public Speaking, and a mock graduation cap and self portraits of a student in Introduction to Communication.

This file cabinet was in my office at GCC in 2013 when I was an OYO. I was so excited to have my own office on campus after being an adjunct and part=time speech team coach for five years. I lined the shelves with adorable wrapping paper to give the look of wallpaper to an otherwise (let’s be honest) pretty ugly piece of office furniture. When I returned back to GCC in 2019, I was in a different office, but a year later, after some office switching musical chairs, I discovered my old file cabinet! When you love something, let it go…

Since then, I’ve developed a pretty serious addiction to Starbucks tumblers… so much so that I had to expand my display from home to school (mostly to protect my partner from knowing exactly how many cups I now own). I found a three-tied display shelf to but on top of this cabinet along with fun prices of art and travel memorabilia. And a few books are stored here, too.

My primary view is facing my computer screen… and screen… and screen. It is somewhat overwhelming to have so many screens’ I feel a little bit like Batman in the Bat Cave, just without the sweet Batmobile.

I have my degrees hanging proudly on the wall, a corkboard covered in art and speech team awards, and more photos of my babies. I got a ring light during the pandemic, and it comes in handy to prevent me from looking quite as ghostly on virtual meetings.

So, that’s it! My office is a place of joy even on days that are not quite as joyous. I turn on my Scentsy fragrance, grab a chocolate from the “In case of Dementors” jar, and enjoy my colorful work oasis. Swing by the next time you’re near FO-2!